About Timber Unlimited

Timber Unlimited, formerly Timber Design Centre^TM, is an industry-neutral, non-commercial non-profit, founded to encourage and facilitate the use of timber in the design and construction of all building and infrastructure projects. Our particular focus is on the commercial, industrial, public, and multi-story sectors.

We are focused on championing timber to build a better future for New Zealand by:

• Enabling New Zealand to embrace low-carbon timber construction.
• Demonstrating timber as a practical, sustainable and viable construction material for New Zealand.
• Accelerating the uptake of timber in construction relative to alternative materials

Providing an innovative and inspiring resource to help the industry unlock the potential of timber.

As the country’s go-to timber resource, we provide all the timber design information and knowledge in one place, empowering the industry to build better.

Everything we do is to minimise the time and cost of gaining the capability, competence and confidence to find new ways of building with timber by:

• Championing the reasons and benefits of using timber.
• Educating and providing guidance to upskill and build capacity.
• Addressing barriers and helping solve problems.
• Showcasing inspiring innovation and demonstrating it can be done with timber.
• Facilitating collaboration and connections to help share and grow knowledge, skills and techniques across the industry.
• Building a thriving community of timber enthusiasts where we can bring like-minded individuals together for the greater good.

Whoever you are across the timber and construction value chain and wherever you are on your timber learning journey, we are here to inspire you with the endless possibilities of timber in the built environment.

Because we are striving for a future where:

• Building asset owners and property developers commission more timber buildings.
• Design professionals specify timber in building designs as routine.
• Builders and contractors have the skills and knowledge to construct high-quality timber buildings.
• The public widely understands the benefits of building with timber.

Timber Unlimited is a collective of experts from across the value chain, leveraging established relationships with wood processors, design professionals, builders, QS, engineers and others.

Officially launched in March 2022, we are underpinned by a Consortium Agreement between our founding members: BRANZ, NZTDS, Scion and WPMA.

As a not-for-profit, non-commercial, industry and national good organization, we are currently funded by MPI/TUR (initially for an establishment period and now for a transition period) and are a key implementation initiative in helping New Zealand deliver on the intent of the Forestry and Wood Processing Industry Transformation Plan (ITP).

Central to this is the belief that shifting to a culture of using timber in all buildings will provide long-term demand for wood products, which will support greater investment in domestic wood processing of NZ harvested logs, assist New Zealand’s transition to a low greenhouse gas emissions economy, and assist asset owners in developing lower emissions and higher value proposition buildings. 

Timber is a renewable resource that sequesters carbon dioxide and is sustainable, viable and locally supplied. So, the more it’s used, the faster the nation can transition to a lower-carbon reality.

We are passionate about building a better future for both the construction industry and New Zealand as a whole.